Making the Sounds of Vista 375
Bengt writes "The sounds of Vista took 18 months to get right for Microsoft. Artist Robert Fripp recorded hours of sound, and assisted Steven Ball in choosing between several different options. A clapping rhythm was rejected for 'sounding too human', and a techno beat was removed from considering because it was just the opposite." From the article: "If it seems like overkill to go to all that trouble for a few seconds of sound, consider this: Microsoft estimates that the clips such as the e-mail alert will be played trillions of times in years to come. That's a lot of opportunity to annoy, offend -- or, if the job is done right -- please or appease computer users the world over. One major concern was that the startup sound not grow grating after a time. You want a sound that people will love the first time they hear it, but it's a paradox to also say, 'Oh and by the way, we need people to love it the tenth, or the hundredth, or the thousandth time they hear it,' Ball said."
Ball said (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll settle for "just not annoy me." If I'm supposed to love it, that sounds like too much distraction already.
Re:Ball said (Score:5, Interesting)
Pah... (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't have sounds (Score:2, Interesting)
cellular automata based composition (Score:4, Interesting)
(Some compositions [wolfram.com] I made.)
About that Windows 95 sound... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm kind of a Fripp fan, so I got a kick out of reading this:
Preview of Vista sounds (Score:4, Interesting)
No thanks. (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been a musician for about 13 years now, a composer for 6, and a music snob for many years beyond that, and I can safely say that I think they have succeeded at failing to create a lasting startup sound.
For the era, The windows 95 startup sound was good - especially in stereo. While it was somewhat obtrusive, I think it was the best out of all the startup sounds MS has bundled with a Windows OS.
The 4 note progression, if trying to follow the syllables of "Win-dows Vis-ta", should (disclaimer: in my opinion, mind you), be quite different. The ascension progression should (disclaimer: more opinion) hang on the last note (Think "I want my M-T-Veeeeeeeeeeeeee"). Just dropping the progression and sinking into the background chords in the manner they have chosen rubs me the wrong way.
Now, if they had chosen a progression that doesn't continue to ascend, such as the tradmark NBC sound, I think they would have it. When that "C" is struck, it creates a musical sense of relief and completion (disclaimer: my brain says so).
The ascension feels like it is choking, to me. Almost like the way a person would ask a short question - "Windows Vista?"
Oh well. I disable all startup sounds on computers anyway, as they take up RAM, and tend to not blend with whatever music I'm listening to at the time. :)
Re:Can Frippertronics save Vista? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Sounds? (Score:2, Interesting)
And having an artist create some flashy theme hardly prevents developers from doing their job of making a good app. Nowadays, you need *BOTH*.
7zip should have some fund raiser to pay some graphical artist, or have some contest about creating themes for it or such.
Re:If they wanted a have a sound I like... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Illustrative comment... (Score:1, Interesting)
Sure, let the user change the sound later if they want, but don't have a blocking step in the install forcing them to pick. Yeesh. Linux won't advance past the server room with thinking like that. Taking care of the details is the designer's job, not the user's.
More bodies? (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't it one of the tenets of Open Source, that with enough eyes on the code, bugs are shallow? Why would that work for Linux and other Open Source projects, and not for Microsoft?